The 2025 Practical Course on Mainland Civil and Commercial Law, hosted by Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy, was successfully held from June 13 to 14. As the first professional course of the academy targeting barristers, solicitors, corporate legal counsel and dispute resolution practitioners in Hong Kong, the event attracted approximately 300 legal professionals to register.
Paul Lam Ting-kwok, Secretary for Justice of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (left in the picture above), and Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, Deputy Secretary for Justice (right in the picture above), delivered speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies respectively, pointing out that the course provides an important platform for the Hong Kong legal profession to gain an in-depth understanding of Mainland civil and commercial laws and practical operations, and is crucial for promoting exchanges and cooperation in the legal and dispute resolution fields between the two places.
With the core theme of “Deepening Understanding of Mainland Civil and Commercial Legal Practice and Empowering Cross-border Legal Services”, the course covered core areas such as the Mainland court system, Hong Kong-related intellectual property trials, and handling of foreign-related cases. Mainland judicial practice experts including Dr. Si Yanli, Deputy Director of the Research Office of the Supreme People’s Court and Senior Judge, and Dr. Wang Xiaoming, President of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of Guangdong Higher People’s Court and Senior Judge, jointly taught the course with renowned legal scholars and lawyers such as Professor Wang Liming, Vice President of China Law Society and First-class Professor of Renmin University of China, Professor Huang Jin, President of Chinese Society of International Law and Professor of the Institute of International Law and Global Governance of Wuhan University, Lawyer Wang Junfeng, Expert Member of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court and Chairman of the “Belt and Road” Legal Service Alliance, and Lawyer Wang Zheng, Director of the Civil and Commercial Litigation Professional Committee of Shanghai Bar Association and Partner of Shanghai Zhenghan Law Firm.
Lawyer Wang Zheng of our firm was invited to share the core points of Mainland China’s dispute resolution on the first day of the course, focusing on the three major areas of preservation, evidence and enforcement. He compared property preservation measures between the Mainland and Hong Kong, for example, the measures of seizure, detention and freezing adopted in the Mainland are different from interim measures such as asset freezing orders in Hong Kong, introduced the “four-element theory” in the field of act preservation, and explained it with the “The Voice of China” injunction case as an example. He elaborated on the types of evidence and rules of burden of proof in the Mainland, analyzed the differences between common law and Mainland law in terms of standard of proof and discovery, and mentioned the mechanisms for mutual assistance in taking evidence between the Mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions. He also explained the enforcement procedures, sanction measures and the crime of refusing to execute a judgment or order, emphasizing that dispute resolution solutions should be formulated from a cross-jurisdictional perspective.
The successful conclusion of the course marks a key step taken by the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy in promoting legal integration between the two places. In the future, the academy will rely on Hong Kong’s advantages of common law and Chinese-English bilingualism to continue cultivating compound legal talents for regions along the “Belt and Road”, and further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an international legal and dispute resolution hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
Zhenghan Law Firm has long been deeply engaged in legal exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong, and has deeply participated in Hong Kong’s legal affairs with its Hong Kong office as an important platform. In the field of foreign-related legal services, Zhenghan Law Firm has achieved remarkable results, successfully handling a number of complex and major foreign-related cases covering cross-border dispute resolution, overseas equity disputes, international commercial arbitration and other fields, providing practical legal support and guarantee for numerous enterprises to “go global”. Previously, Zhenghan Law Firm was also invited to support the holding of the “2024 International Law Forum” in Hong Kong, and will continue to assist in the development of relevant legal activities in Hong Kong in the future. Through professional seminars and practical sharing, it will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Hong Kong legal community, and jointly contribute to promoting regional legal integration and improving the quality and efficiency of cross-border legal services.